Refining the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng (Part 1)

"What a shame!"

Lin Xiao shook his head and swept his gaze over the pass one last time, preparing to leave. But he froze when his eyes landed on a certain spot.

A Black Armored Guard, whose cloak was embroidered with gold trim, had discovered him at some point and was now staring intently at him. Their eyes met, and after a few seconds of stunned silence, Lin Xiao suddenly turned and fled.

The Black Armored Guard let out a cold snort and said to the Zushan Pass guard commander beside him:

"The rest is up to you. I'm going to retrieve the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng."

The guard commander respectfully bowed:

"Lord He, please proceed as you see fit!"

Soon, led by this Lord He, over a dozen Black Armored figures left the pass and pursued the direction Lin Xiao had taken.

"Damn it, do their eyes work like eagles'? They found me even here."

Weaving through the mountains and forests, Lin Xiao kept looking back. He had just leaped onto a tree and seen the more than ten Black Armored Guards chasing him, led by the one with the gold trim. There were two with silver trim, and the rest were all bronze trim.

According to the Black Armored Guard's ranking system, from low to high, besides the basic white trim, the second level had edges embroidered with bronze thread, equivalent to the lower ranks like Xiaoji or Baihu in the Ming Dynasty's Imperial Guards.

The third level of Black Armored Guards had borders embroidered with silver thread, equivalent to the rank of Qianhu, considered mid-level management.

Above that, the Black Armored Guards with gold trim embroidered with gold thread were already high-ranking officials within the Black Armored Guard, equivalent to the rank of Zhenfu Shi in the Imperial Guards. They were absolutely top-tier figures and peak experts, each as skilled as Golden Eagle Envoy Wang Zhen. The final blow delivered to Wang Zhen just now was personally executed by this gold-trimmed Black Armored Guard.

Lin Xiao felt no honor at being personally pursued by such a high-ranking individual, only frustration.

Fortunately, his Lightness Skill was exquisite, and his cultivation was high. He fled frantically using his Lightness Skill without feeling exhausted. In just half an hour, he had traveled an unknown distance away from Zushan Pass.

Along the way, he deliberately ran through remote areas, climbing mountains, crossing rivers, and traversing ditches. He ran wherever the path was difficult. After running for an unknown amount of time, he had reached a place even he didn't know. The surroundings were desolate and uninhabited, with wild grass growing taller than a person.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he should be safe from pursuit now.

However, with the mindset that caution is the parent of safety, he didn't stop and continued to flee, though his speed was no longer as frantic as before.

If this were ancient China, he would likely be in the northeastern region. He didn't know the exact location, only that this place had probably been uninhabited for many years, with no trace of civilization.

His perfected Flying Heaven Steps allowed him to glide effortlessly over the grass. His feet landed on nameless grass stalks thinner than his fingers. Before the stalks could even bend under his weight, he would bounce off them seven or eight meters away, as if this boundless wilderness were flat ground.

After running for an unknown duration, he finally crossed this wasteland and arrived near a small mountain. He hid beneath a large tree on the mountain ridge.

With a flick of his finger, he killed a three-meter-long banded krait that was coiled in the dark, damp environment at the base of the tree. After observing his surroundings, Lin Xiao took out a brocade box from his bosom and opened it. The Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng was still there, its body and roots secured to the back of the brocade box with red thread to prevent them from falling off.

This thing looked no different from a normal ginseng. It wasn't like the legends said, with the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng resembling a baby. It was still like a radish root covered in tendrils, just whiter, larger, and heavier. It felt as cold as snow to the touch.

Honestly, if he hadn't sensed its extraordinary nature upon seeing it, an ordinary person would have thought it was just a radish with a lot of roots.

Placing the brocade box on his lap, he rubbed his hands together and excitedly pinched a root, gently snapping it off. Immediately, a peculiar ginseng aroma gushed from the break, quickly filling the surroundings.

"The effect is this significant?"

He was taken aback. Seeing something flowing from the broken root, he quickly stuffed the noodle-like root into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed.

The next second, a warm current surged through his abdomen. The medicinal effect was even stronger than when he had chewed and swallowed an entire century-old ginseng. He quickly circulated his energy to absorb and refine this potent medicinal power.

"Attribute Panel!"

A light screen panel, visible only to him, popped open before his eyes. His gaze fell on the Potential Points section, and he saw the points jump from 24 to 25. A few seconds later, they jumped from 25 to 26, increasing by one point roughly every two to three seconds. In a short while, he had gained a full 11 Potential Points.

"This...!"

Just one inconspicuous root could add ten Potential Points. Lin Xiao's eyes gleamed as he looked at the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng in the brocade box. This thing had thirty to forty roots scattered around, which alone would yield three to four hundred Potential Points. Add to that the main body, which was thicker than all the roots combined, and just this single Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng contained at least five to six hundred Potential Points.

"This is a huge profit!"

He took a breath and pinched off another root, stuffing it into his mouth and beginning to frantically refine this treasure.

In less than ten minutes, he had pinched off and swallowed nearly half of the roots. The Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, which had looked perfect before, now appeared to have half its roots missing, looking extremely unsightly and unbalanced.

At the same time, his attribute panel had accumulated a total of 231 Potential Points, the most he had ever accumulated.

With so many Potential Points, Lin Xiao could now try some of his previous ideas. For example, he could fully cultivate the two secret manuals gifted by the Great River Gang Leader upon his arrival, or raise his Internal Energy Cultivation technique, the Three Rivers Heart Method, to the Great Accomplishment stage. He could also merge the Yang Sha Scripture and the Yin Sha Scripture, jointly deducing a divine technique that combined the strengths of all three Internal Energy Cultivation methods and eliminated all their flaws.

This was something Lin Xiao had planned for a long time. After all, both his Yin Sha Scripture and Yang Sha Scripture had reached Great Accomplishment, leaving no room for further improvement. The only way to increase his inner force was through slow, painstaking cultivation, moving his inner force through his meridians daily. Each Heavenly Cycle would only add a trace of inner force.

This was how martial arts experts increased their power when their techniques could no longer be improved. This was also why the Yang Sha old man, despite his Yang Sha Technique only reaching Great Accomplishment with 120 years of cultivation, had a total of 140 to 150 years of cultivation. The extra years were accumulated through his decades of rigorous training.

Lin Xiao didn't want to enter that stage so early. Fortunately, both the Yang Sha Scripture and Yin Sha Scripture still had room for further advancement, which he intended to utilize.

His current goal was to merge the inner force cultivated from the Yang Sha Scripture and the Yin Sha Scripture into Primordial Power. The next step would be to fuse the two divine techniques, incorporating the advantages of other Internal Energy Cultivation methods, and deduce a new, more powerful divine technique.

Besides cultivating it himself, this was also preparation for his eventual return and departure from this world.